Featured Research

from universities, journals, and other organizations

Canada's Fastest Computer Simulates Galaxies, Black Holes

Date:

July 30, 2003

Source:

University Of Toronto

Summary:

A $900,000 supercomputer at the University of Toronto - the fastest computer in Canada -- is heating up astrophysics research in this country and burning its way up the list of the world's fastest computers.

Share This

July 21, 2003 -- A $900,000 supercomputer at the University of Toronto - the fastest computer in Canada -- is heating up astrophysics research in this country and burning its way up the list of the world's fastest computers.

Related Articles

The new computer, part of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), was ranked as the fastest computer in Canada and the 39th fastest in the world in the latest list from http://www.top500.org, compiled by the Universities of Mannheim and Tennessee and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"An essential element of modern astrophysics is the ability to carry out large-scale simulations of the cosmos, to complement the amazing observations being undertaken," said Professor Peter Martin, chair of astronomy and astrophysics and a CITA investigator. "With the simulations possible on this computer, we have in effect a laboratory where we can test our understanding of astronomical phenomena ranging from the development of structure in the universe over 14 billion years to the development of new planets in star-forming systems today."

When the computer, created by the HPC division of Mynix Technology of Montreal (now a part of Ciara Technologies), starts its calculations, the 512 individual central processing units can heat up to 65 C, requiring extra ventilation and air-conditioning to keep the unit functioning.

But with that heat comes the capability of performing more than one trillion calculations per second, opening the door to more complex and comprehensive simulations of the universe. It is the only Canadian machine to break the Teraflop barrier -- one trillion calculations per second -- and it's the fastest computer in the world devoted to a wide spectrum of astrophysics research.

"This new computer lets us solve a variety of problems with better resolution than can be achieved with any other supercomputer in Canada," said Chris Loken, CITA's computing facility manager. "Astrophysics is a science that needs a lot of computer horsepower and memory and that's what this machine can provide. The simulations are also enabled by in-house development of sophisticated parallel numerical codes that fully exploit the computer's capabilities."

The machine, nicknamed McKenzie (after the McKenzie Brothers comedy sketch on SCTV), with 268 gigabytes of memory and 40 terabytes of disk space, consists of two master nodes (Bob and Doug), 256 compute nodes, and eight development nodes. All of these are networked together using a novel gigabit networking scheme that was developed and implemented at CITA. Essentially, the two gigabit Ethernet ports on each node are used to create a "mesh" that connects every machine directly to another machine and to one of 17 inexpensive gigabit switches. It took four people about two days and two kilometres of cable to connect this network. The unique CITA design drives down the networking cost in the computer by at least a factor of five and the innovative system has attracted industry attention.

Professor John Dubinski has used the new computer to examine both the formation of cosmological structure and the collisions of galaxies by simulating the gravitational interaction of hundreds of millions of particles representing stars and the mysterious dark matter. The anticipated collision of the Milky Way Galaxy with our neighbouring Andromeda galaxy - an event predicted to take place in three billion years time - has been modeled at unprecedented resolution.

New simulations on the formation of supermassive black holes, again with the highest resolution to date, have been carried out by his colleagues Professors Ue-Li Pen and Chris Matzner. They have already uncovered clues which may explain the mystery of why the black hole at the center of our galaxy is so much fainter than had been expected theoretically.

The team has even grander plans for the future. "In astrophysics at the University of Toronto we have continually exploited the latest computing technology to meet our requirements, always within a modest budget," Martin said. "This is a highly competitive science and to maintain our lead we are planning a computer some ten times more powerful."

Funding for the computer was provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust.

More From ScienceDaily

More Computers & Math News

Featured Research

Mar. 3, 2015  By examining the forces that the segments of mosquito legs generate against a water surface, researchers have unraveled the mechanical logic that allows the mosquitoes to walk on water, which may ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015  Major cities in the UK are falling behind their international counterparts in terms of their use of smart technologies, according to a new study. The research has found that smart cities in the UK, ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015  To simulate chimp behavior, scientists created a computer model based on equations normally used to describe the movement of atoms and molecules in a confined space. An interdisciplinary research ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015  Magnetic vortex structures, so-called skyrmions, could in future store and process information very efficiently. They could also be the basis for high-frequency components. For the first time, a team ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  A method for analyzing and predicting nature's dynamic and interconnected systems has improved forecasts of populations of Fraser River Sockeye Salmon, a highly prized fishery in British Columbia, ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  The odds of picking a perfect bracket for the NCAA men's basketball March Madness championship tournament are a staggering less than one in 9.2 quintillion (that's 9,223,372,036,854,775,808), ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  Scientists report that they could observe experimentally the current flow along channels at the crystal surfaces of topological insulators. The channels are less than one nanometer wide and extend ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), which are made from carbon-containing materials, have the potential to revolutionize future display technologies, making low-power displays so thin they'll wrap ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  What if one day, your computer, TV or smart phone could process data with light waves instead of an electrical current, making those devices faster, cheaper and more sustainable through less heat and ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  3-D printing could become a powerful tool in customizing interventional radiology treatments to individual patient needs, with clinicians having the ability to construct devices to a specific size ... full story

Featured Videos

Forensic Holodeck Creates 3D Crime Scenes

Reuters - Innovations Video Online (Mar. 3, 2015)  A holodeck is no longer the preserve of TV sci-fi classic Star Trek, thanks to researchers from the Institute of Forensic Medicine Zurich, who have created what they say is the first system in the world to visualise the 3D data of forensic scans. Jim Drury saw it in operation.
Video provided by Reuters

Related Stories

May 13, 2013  Harnessing the unique features of the quantum world promises a dramatic speed-up in information processing as compared to the fastest classical machines. Scientists have succeeded in prototyping a ... full story

Jan. 30, 2013  Astronomers report the exciting discovery of a new way to measure the mass of supermassive black holes in galaxies. By measuring the speed with which carbon monoxide molecules orbit around such ... full story

Feb. 15, 2011  University of Florida researchers say their supercomputer, named Novo-G, is the world's fastest reconfigurable supercomputer and is able to perform some important science applications faster ... full story

Nov. 22, 2010  Accelerator-based supercomputers hold eight of the top 10 spots on The Green500 List, just released. These supercomputers use dedicated hardware to perform computations faster than a typical central ... full story

ScienceDaily features breaking news and videos about the latest discoveries in health, technology, the environment, and more -- from major news services and leading universities, scientific journals, and research organizations.